Twenty20

Twenty20 is a form of cricket, originally introduced in the United Kingdom for professional inter-county competition by the England and Wales Cricket Board in 2003. It is a type of single innings cricket in which each team bats for a maximum of only 20 overs and closely resembles a form of the game which has been popular in English amateur cricket since at least the 1960's.

A Twenty20 game is completed in about three hours, with each innings lasting around 75 minutes, thus bringing the game closer to the timespan of other popular team sports such as football. It was introduced to create a lively form of the game which would be attractive to spectators at the ground and viewers on television and as such has been very successful. The ECB did not intend that Twenty20 would replace other forms of the county game and these have continued alongside it.

The game has now spread around the cricket world (although in India so far only to a minor extent) and there have also been some Twenty20 internationals, with all Test-playing nations having played at least one game. The inaugural Twenty20 World Championship will be contested in South Africa in 2007.

Rules

The Laws of cricket apply to Twenty20 with some exceptions:

• Should a bowler deliver a no ball by overstepping the popping crease, it costs 2 runs and his next delivery is designated a free-hit, from which the batsman can only be dismissed through a run out, as is the case for the original "no ball".

• Bowlers may bowl a maximum of only 4 overs per innings.

• Umpires may award 5-run penalty runs at their discretion if they believe either team is wasting time.

• If the fielding team do not start to bowl their 20th over within 75 minutes, the batting side is credited an extra 6 runs for every whole over bowled after the 75 minute mark, the umpire may add more time to this, if he considers the batting team is wasting time.

• The following fielding restrictions apply:
  • No more than 5 fielders can be on the leg side at any time.
  • During the first 6 overs, a maximum of 2 fielders can be outside the 30 Yard circle.
  • After the first 6 overs, a maximum of 5 fielders can be outside the fielding circle.

• If the match ends with the scores tied and there must be a winner, the tie is broken with a bowl-out (similar to a penalty shoot-out in football), with 5 bowlers from each side delivering 2 balls each at an unguarded wicket. If the number of wickets is equal after the first 10 balls per side, the bowling continues and is decided by sudden death.

Impact

So far, Twenty20 has proved very popular with the public.

On July 15 2004, Middlesex vs. Surrey (the first Twenty20 game to be held at Lord's) attracted a crowd of 26,500, the largest attendance for any county cricket game other than a one-day final since 1953.

On January 12 2005, Australia's first Twenty20 game was played at the WACA ground between the Western Warriors and the Victorian Bushrangers. It drew a sellout crowd of 20,700.

On February 17 2005, Australia defeated New Zealand in the first men's full international Twenty20 match, played at Eden Park in Auckland. The first Twenty20 international in England was played between England and Australia at the Rose Bowl in Hampshire on the 13th June 2005.

On January 9 2006, Australia and South Africa met in the first international Twenty20 game in Australia. In a first, each player's nickname appeared on the back of his uniform, rather than his surname. The international match drew a crowd of 38,894 people at the The Gabba. Australia convincingly won the match with man of the match Damien Martyn scoring 96 runs.

On February 16 2006, New Zealand defeated West Indies in tie-breaking bowl-out 3-0; 126 runs scored apiece.

Starting July 11 2006, 19 West Indies regional teams competed in what was named the Stanford Twenty20 tournament. The event has been financially backed by billionaire Allen Stanford, who gave at least US$28,000,000 funding money. West Indies legends also backed the programme, and several "looked after" the teams during their stay in and around the purpose built ground in Antigua. It is intended that the tournament will be an annual event. Guyana won the inaugural event, defeating Trinidad and Tobago by 5 wickets.[1] The top prize for the winning team was US$1,000,000, but other prizes were given throughout the tournament, such as play of the match (US$10,000) and man of the match (US$25,000).[2]

On January 5 2007, Queensland Bulls played the New South Wales Blues at The Gabba, Brisbane. A crowd of 11,000 was expected based on pre-match ticket sales. However, an unexpected 16,000 turned up on the day to buy tickets, causing disruption and confusion for surprised Gabba staff as they were forced to throw open gates and grant many fans free entry. Attendance reached 27,653.[3][4]

Records

International

• Highest Team Score: Australia – 221 vs England (9th January 2007) ^[1]
• Highest Winning Margin (Runs): England – 100 vs Australia (13th June 2005)^[2]
• Highest Winning Margin (Wickets): South Africa – 10 vs Pakistan (2 February 2007)
• Best Bowling Figures: Paul Collingwood (England) – 22-4 vs Sri Lanka (15th June 2006)^[3]
• Highest Individual Score: Ricky Ponting (Australia) – 98 vs New Zealand (17th February 2005)^[4]
• Highest Partnership: Graeme Smith & Loots Bosman (1st Wicket, South Africa) – 132 vs Pakistan (2 February 2007)
• Highest Number of Sixes hit: Australia – 14 vs England (9th January 2007)^[5]

Domestic

Domestic trophy winners

England (Twenty20 Cup)

• See Twenty20 Cup

Pakistan (Twenty20 Cup)

• 2004-05: Faisalabad Wolves
• 2005-06: Sialkot Stallions
• 2006-07: Sialkot Stallions

South Africa (Pro20 Series)

• 2003-04: Goodyear Eagles
• 2004-05: Nashua Titans
• 2005-06: Gestetner Eagles
• 2006-07: Highveld Lions

Sri Lanka (Twenty20 Cup)

• 2004: Chilaw Marians CC
• 2005-06: Sinhalese SC

Australia (KFC Twenty20 Big Bash)

• 2005–06: Victorian Bushrangers [5]
• 2006–07: Victorian Bushrangers

New Zealand State Twenty20 Cricket Tournament

• 2006-07: Auckland defeated Otago by 60 runs
• 2005-06: Canterbury defeated Auckland by 6 wickets

West Indies (Stanford 20:20)

• 2006: Guyana defeated Trinidad and Tobago by 5 wickets

List of Men's Twenty20 International games

No.	Date	Result	Venue
1	17 February 2005	Australia defeated New Zealand by 44 runs	Eden Park, Auckland
2	13 June 2005	England defeated Australia by 100 runs	Rose Bowl, Southampton
3	21 October 2005	New Zealand defeated Image:Flag of South Africa.svg South Africa by 5 wickets	New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
4	9 January 2006	Australia defeated Image:Flag of South Africa.svg South Africa by 95 runs	The Gabba, Brisbane
5	16 February 2006	New Zealand tied with Image:West Indies Cricket Board Flag.svg West Indies, (New Zealand won bowl-out 3-0)	Eden Park, Auckland
6	24 February 2006	Image:Flag of South Africa.svg South Africa defeated Australia by 2 runs	New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
7	15 June 2006	Image:Flag of Sri Lanka.svg Sri Lanka defeated England by 2 runs	Rose Bowl, Southampton
8	28 August 2006	Image:Flag of Pakistan (bordered).svg Pakistan defeated England by 5 wickets	County Cricket Ground, Bristol
9	28 November 2006	Image:Flag of Bangladesh.svg Bangladesh defeated Image:Flag of Zimbabwe.svg Zimbabwe by 43 runs	Khulna Divisional Stadium, Khulna
10	1 December 2006	Image:Flag of India.svg India defeated Image:Flag of South Africa.svg South Africa by 6 wickets	New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
11	22 December 2006	Image:Flag of Sri Lanka.svg Sri Lanka defeated New Zealand by 18 runs (D/L method)	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
12	26 December 2006	New Zealand defeated Image:Flag of Sri Lanka.svg Sri Lanka by 5 wickets	Eden Park, Auckland
13	9 January 2007	Australia defeated England by 77 runs	Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney
14	2 February 2007	Image:Flag of South Africa.svg South Africa defeated Image:Flag of Pakistan (bordered).svg Pakistan by 10 wickets	New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg

• The next scheduled matches:
  • England v West Indies at The Oval, London on 28 and 29 June 2007.
  • The 1st Twenty20 World Championship in September 2007 in South Africa.

The results of various teams are listed below:

Team	Matches	Wins	Losses	NR	Win %
Australia	5	3	2	0	60%
Image:Flag of Bangladesh.svg Bangladesh	1	1	0	0	100%
England	4	1	3	0	25%
Image:Flag of India.svg India	1	1	0	0	100%
New Zealand	4	3	1	0	75%
Image:Flag of Pakistan (bordered).svg Pakistan	2	1	1	0	50%
Image:Flag of Sri Lanka.svg Sri Lanka	3	2	1	0	66%
Image:Flag of South Africa.svg South Africa	5	2	3	0	40%
Image:West Indies Cricket Board Flag.svg West Indies	1	0	1	0	0%
Image:Flag of Zimbabwe.svg Zimbabwe	1	0	1	0	0%

List of Women's Twenty20 International games

No.	Date	Result	Venue
1	5 August 2004	New Zealand defeated England by 9 runs	County Ground, Hove
2	2 September 2005	Australia defeated England by 7 wickets	County Ground, Taunton
3	5 August 2006	Image:Flag of India.svg India defeated England by 8 wickets	County Ground, Derby
4	18 October 2006	Australia tied with New Zealand, (Australia won bowl-out 2-1)	Allan Border Field, Brisbane

See also

• Pro40 - The English One Day Game
• List of Twenty20 International records

References

Wikipedia information about Twenty20 This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Twenty20". It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer). Help contribute to Americola and edit this article.